Monday, November 19, 2012

Earth 2 #6 - A Review

Earth 2 continues to impress as James Robinson explores a whole new world while still paying tribute to the classic Golden Age character concepts that gave birth to the DC Universe. While some of the details and costumes may have changed, the heart of these characters remains untouched Green Lantern (a.k.a. Alan Scott) proves a prime example of this.

Much has been made of this version of Alan Scott's homosexuality and how the source of his power has changed from a generic magic ring/lantern to a spiritual connection with the life force of The Earth itself. This issue further expands upon these changes, revealing an entirely new weakness for Green Lantern far and away from his original inability to protect himself against wooden weapons. Yet for all that, little has changed and Green Lantern remains a strong-willed, courageous hero who wields the power of creation itself as a weapon. The way in which he defeats the avatar of decay known as Grundy is a clever nod to how the original Green Lantern once bested Solomon Grundy.

Plot wise, Robinson does add some interesting wrinkles as our heroes achieve their first major victory against a global threat. For instance, Robinson lampshades the trope that insists that all the heroes who join in common cause against a menace must immediately become fast friends and join together as a team. Green Lantern arrogantly insists he doesn't need any help - this despite Hawkgirl saving his life rather directly and The Flash playing a major role in covering crowd control during the crisis. This gives long-time readers like myself something else to be surprised by.

As always, Nicola Scott's artwork is excellent. I've been a fan of her work since she partnered with Gail Simone on Birds of Prey and Earth 2 provides us with more of the clear pencil-work and colorful character design we saw before. Hopefully she's here to stay on this title for a while.